The
event took place at Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club, G-9057 S. Saginaw Road, and included a cocktail
reception, a strolling dinner, casino gaming, dueling pianos, dancing and a
Polar coffee bar.

Close to 250,000 people experience a heart attack,
also known as a ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), yearly. A heart
attack is caused by blockage in a coronary artery, which stops the blood supply
to the heart. Without the blood, the heart muscle will die.

Heart attacks are considered life-threatening
medical emergencies and require rapid responses from all members of the medical
team beginning with the first responders in the field.

By investing in the use of smart technology, EMS
providers can send cardiac information directly from the ambulance to the
emergency department prior to the patient's arrival. This way, the heart team
can be ready for the patient and prepared to start treatment immediately.

"We're here today to raise a little money for
Genesys and the Affair of the Heart organization to help buy some of the equipment
we'll be using for a 12-week pilot study with the cardiovascular group," said Alex Boros, manager at Swartz
Ambulance Services.

What
they're trying to do is raise enough money to get the pilot off the ground and
fund future equipment purchases. Once we're done with the pilot, it will spread
out to the other agencies in the hospitals as well," he said.

Genesys will use the 32-gigabyte iPod Touch for its pilot program.

Genesys Cardiologist Dr. Frank Tilli explained that
the process of getting the patient treated for a heart attack can start at
their home with the use of an app that health professionals can
access from anywhere, allowing them to see a picture of the heart and start the
necessary procedures for treatment long before the patient even arrives at the
hospital.

"So we can shave minutes off the time it takes to
open the artery, and the sooner we open the artery up, the more heart muscle we
can save, and the better the patient will do long-term," Tilli said.

The innovative program is going to be the first trial
of its kind in Michigan, said President
and CEO of Genesys Health Systems Betsy Aderholdt.

"We hope to raise enough funds for the pilot. We
think that we will be able to do that. This is a very scalable pilot, so it
gives us the ability to get started with these first three EMS companies
(Swartz, Patriot and Grove). If it's successful, hopefully we'll have enough
money to spread it out to additional partners and as we see that it's
successful, we'll continue to raise money to make that happen," said Aderholdt.

"Technology is helping patients be engaged in the
medical process and that's going to lead to better results."